Deixa-me rir...

Caros Audiophiles, during this past month three pairs of my friends, in London and Lisbon and Barcelona, have each experienced the nervous excitement of the birth of their first baby daughters. Two pairs have become parents for the first time.

So I thought it would be nice to celebrate these happy events with songs that capture the amazing wonder of a new life.

A song I immediately considered was Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely", written about the birth of his own baby daughter. It is indeed very lovely and uplifting and joyfully exuberant.

But, with apologies to Stevie, I have chosen two other beautiful songs with more reflective lyrics.

The first is "The Things We've Handed Down" by Marc Cohn. He is best known, perhaps only known, for "Walking In Memphis", but he deserves more recognition. In this song he reflects as a parent about his new baby in the final moments before he/she is born:

What will he/she look like, what personality will manifest, and what will be their relationship, what will he/she become in the future?

Don't know much about you

I don't know who you are

We've been doing fine without you

but we could only go so far
I don't know why you chose us

Were you watching from above?

Is there someone there that knows us who

said we'd give you all our love?

Will you laugh just like your mother?

Will you sigh like your old man?

Will some things skip a generation

like I've heard they often can?

Are you a poet or a dancer

a devil or a clown?

Or a strange new combination of

the things we've handed down?

I wonder who you'll look like

Will your hair fall down and curl?

Will you be a mama's boy or daddy's little girl?
Will you be a sad reminder of what's been lost along the way?

Maybe you can help me find her in the things you do and say

And, you know, these things that we have given you

They are not so easily found

But you can thank us later

for the things we've handed down

You may not always be so grateful

for the way that you were made

Maybe some feature of your father

that you would gladly sell or trade
And one day you may look at us

and say that you were cursed

But over time that line has been

extremely well rehearsed
by our fathers, and their fathers

In some old and distant town,

From places no one here remembers

come the things we've handed down.

The second song is "The Greatest Discovery" by Elton John. He of course needs no more recognition, but perhaps this song from his first album in 1970 is not so well known. Written from the perspective of a wide-eyed curious young child, it is Elton's lyric partner Bernie Taupin's reflection about his surprise first encounter with his new baby brother.

Peering out of tiny eyes
The grubby hands that gripped the rail
Wiped the window clean of frost
As the morning air laid on the latch

A whistle awakened someone there
Next door to the nursery just down the hall
A strange new sound you never heard before
A strange new sound that makes boys explore

Tread neat so small those little feet
Amid the morning his small heart beats
So much excitement yesterday
That must be rewarded must be displayed

Large hands lift him through the air
Excited eyes contain him there
The eyes of those he loves and knows
But what's this extra bed just here?

His puzzled head tipped to one side
Amazement swims in those bright green eyes
Glancing down upon this thing
That make strange sounds, strange sounds that sing

In those silent happy seconds
That surround the sound of this event
A parent's smile is made in moments
They have made for you a friend

And all you ever learned from them
Until you grew much older
Did not compare with when they said
This is your brand new brother.

To new parents Mat & Ailsa & baby Amelie, and to new parents Ana & Rui & baby Isabel, and to experienced parents Isabel & Simon & baby Lola a surprise companion for her brother Simon: Congratulations and Best Wishes for a wonderful family life together.

To everyone: Hope you enjoy!

A proxima.

PO